Photo: Sarena D · CC BY-SA 4.0Household incomes in Ucluelet are higher than in 62% of Canadian towns
In Ucluelet, 77% of residents aged 15 to 64 were working in May 2021, against 73% in the middle of Canadian towns. An hour or more each way is the commute for 2.2% of workers in Ucluelet; the average is 17.2 minutes. The 2021 census put unemployment in Ucluelet at 8.1%, next to 9.9% for the middle of Canadian towns.
What stands out about work in Ucluelet
A local job centre
With 800 jobs based in Ucluelet and 685 working residents, the ratio compares with 0.8 in the middle of Canadian towns. The daily tide ↓
Shorter trips than most towns
The average trip to work is 17.2 minutes (26 in the middle of Canadian towns), and 2.2% last an hour or longer. The trip to work ↓
Written from the data on this page: Statistics Canada’s 2021 Census, its commuting tables, Employment Insurance and the Labour Force Survey.
On jobs and income, Ucluelet grades A
Better than 89% of Canadian towns on three measures together.
Its strongest measure is trip times; its weakest, household income.
Graded against Canadian towns of 2,500 people or more; less unemployment and a shorter commute count in its favour.
How the grade works
Census 2021 measures, weighed equally against every Canadian town and neighbourhood of 2,500 people or more: the share of residents aged 15 to 64 in work, median household income (2020), the unemployment rate and the average commute. Each becomes a percentile; their average sets the letter.
Every working day, Ucluelet’s workforce grows by 13%
About 2 people arrive to work in Ucluelet for each resident who goes out. The job is inside the municipality for 82% of its commuters (70% in the middle of Canadian towns).
People with no fixed workplace are in neither count.
Commuting times in Ucluelet
Statistics Canada’s own average, timed exactly rather than by band, is 14.4 minutes. In the middle of British Columbia’s towns, the average commute is 26.4 minutes. A quarter-hour or less for 66% of commuters, against 39% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: commuting duration in five bands; our average uses each band’s middle (75 minutes for an hour or more), so it runs about two minutes above Statistics Canada’s own.
236 people come into Ucluelet to work, most from Port Alberni and Electoral Area C, Alberni-Clayoquot
- Port Alberni65
- Electoral Area C, Alberni-Clayoquot60
- Tofino35
- Ittatsoo 130
- Victoria10
- Marktosis 1510
- Tofino95
30% of the people who work in Ucluelet live outside it, 65 of them in Port Alberni, 64 km away. Outbound, Tofino takes the most: 95 people.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census (98-10-0459): commuting flows between municipalities (census subdivisions), rounded to 5; linked names have their own pages.
Who in Ucluelet has a job
All 3 other places of 2,500 people or more in the Alberni-Clayoquot census division have a smaller share of 15-to-64s in work.
75% of residents aged 15 and over were in the labour force, in work or seeking it. By October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had 56% of the wider area’s adults in work. The census caught the labour market on 11 May 2021, deep in the pandemic, so unemployment and working from home both ran above normal.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: people in work of any age over residents aged 15 to 64, and the census unemployment rate (15 and over); the 25-to-54 rate is Statistics Canada’s own (98-10-0485). The Labour Force Survey and business counts are context, not grade inputs.
The median household in Ucluelet had $82,700 in 2020
One of the 3 other places of 2,500+ in the Alberni-Clayoquot census division has a higher median. Ucluelet’s median is 5% below the middle of British Columbia’s towns ($86,900). Read the incomes as 2020’s, before tax: pandemic benefits such as CERB are in them, and they raised many low incomes for that year.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: median total income of households in 2020, before tax (a neighbourhood’s estimated from its dissemination areas’ income groups).
On foot, by bike, bus or train: 20% of Ucluelet’s commuters
More people cycle to work here than in the middle of British Columbia’s towns: 3.9% against 0.9%. 78% drive to work, fewer than the 87% in the middle of British Columbia’s towns. Hardly anyone takes transit to work, where the middle of Canadian towns has 3.5%.
Statistics Canada, 2021 Census: main mode of commuting; average durations by mode from table 98-10-0458 (whole municipalities only).
EI claims in the Alberni-Clayoquot census division run 8% above their 2019 level
The count topped out in January 2021 at 2,160 people, 2.5 times the 2019 average. Roughly 4.2 in every 100 people aged 15 to 64 in the division draw EI.
Statistics Canada, Employment Insurance beneficiaries by census division (14-10-0323): all income benefits, not seasonally adjusted. EI counts are context, not part of any grade.
People receiving Employment Insurance each month, as a share of the 2019 average (100). For EI beneficiaries, the only official count covers all of the Alberni-Clayoquot census division, Ucluelet included.
Everyday places on foot in Ucluelet: A+
Better than 98% of Canadian towns on two measures together.
OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL); active commuting from the 2021 Census.
How Ucluelet compares with the places nearby
The nearest places to Ucluelet with figures are 13–64 km away.
| Place | In work, 15–64 | Unemployment | Household income | Average trip | Jobs | Walk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ucluelet | 77% | 8.1% | $83K | 17.2 min | A | A+ |
| Electoral Area C, Alberni-Clayoquot 13.2 km | 60% | 16% | $71K | 21.5 min | C− | B− |
| Tofino 35 km | 76% | 12% | $86K | 14 min | A | A |
| Electoral Area D, Alberni-Clayoquot 56.7 km | 74% | 8.2% | $86K | 26 min | B− | C− |
| Port Alberni 63.9 km | 67% | 9.9% | $63K | 18.1 min | C | A |
| Electoral Area E, Alberni-Clayoquot 64.4 km | 77% | 5.4% | $80K | 20.9 min | B+ | C+ |
The people of each place: the share in work, unemployment, household income and the average commute, with both grades once they come.
What this data can and can’t tell you
What each figure measures for Ucluelet, where it comes from, and what it leaves out.
- Employment Insurance. Monthly EI recipients across the census division: a pulse of the local job market rather than a measure of who is out of work.
- The Labour Force Survey. A monthly household survey by Statistics Canada, reported for metro areas and economic regions only. It supplies a recent rate next to the 2021 census figure.
- In work. Everyone with a job, whatever their age, divided by the residents aged 15 to 64 at the 2021 Census: below the municipality the census doesn’t split work by age, and this is the one rate every town and neighbourhood can be given.
- Unemployment. The share of people 15 and over in the labour force, working or looking for work, who had no job on census day in May 2021.
- Household income. The 2020 income of the household at the midpoint, all sources and before tax. Inside a city we rebuild it from the dissemination areas’ income bands, so there it is an estimate.
- Trip times. The census asks how long the trip to work usually takes, in bands; our average uses each band’s middle, so it runs a little above Statistics Canada’s timed average.
- Where people commute. Built from the census table that pairs each worker’s home municipality with their workplace municipality. A job here means someone who usually works in the municipality, local or not.
- Which towns we compare. Every town and city neighbourhood with 2,500 residents or more; whole cities and First Nations reserves are left out. Each middle figure is a median.
Questions about work in Ucluelet
How do people in Ucluelet get to work?
Driving takes 78% of commuters to work, 16% walk and 3.9% cycle, and on census day 20% of those in work were at home.
How long is the commute from Ucluelet?
About 17.2 minutes on average, with 66% under a quarter-hour and 2.2% at an hour or longer.
Where do people in Ucluelet work?
82% work in Ucluelet itself; of those who leave, the most go to Tofino (95).
How many jobs are there in Ucluelet?
Some 800 people worked in Ucluelet at the 2021 census: 1.2 jobs per working resident with a fixed workplace. In June 2026, 161 businesses with employees were on Statistics Canada’s count.
What is the unemployment rate in Ucluelet?
The census put unemployment at 8.1% in May 2021, where the middle of Canadian towns was 9.9%. More recently, in October 2026, the Labour Force Survey had the Vancouver Island and Coast economic region at 5.2%.
What is the average household income in Ucluelet?
The median household in Ucluelet had $82,700 before tax in 2020, against $85,900 in the middle of Canadian towns.
Sources: Statistics Canada, 2021 Census of Population (Census Profile) · Statistics Canada, tables 98-10-0458 and 98-10-0459 (commuting) · Statistics Canada, table 14-10-0323 (EI beneficiaries) · Statistics Canada, Labour Force Survey (14-10-0459, 14-10-0462) · Statistics Canada, Canadian Business Counts (33-10-1176) · grades: TownRatings. Under the Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Adapted from Statistics Canada (Census of Population 2021, population estimates 2025, 2021 census boundaries) under the Statistics Canada Open Licence; this does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada. Neighbourhood names in some cities © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).